Politics and the Church Revisited

Some of you will recall the blog storm surrounding the sharing of my views about politics and the church around Christmas time. I sure haven't forgotten the strong and varied reactions.

(I'll let you go back and find those posts, if you're so inclined!)

I shared, then, that my views were my own and didn't necessarily represent the views of all the elders or the official position of the elder board as whole. (Some of you didn't like that fact that I was sharing my "personal views" on this blog.) I also shared that the elders' discussions of these matters were ongoing.

Well. . . they're still ongoing. This is an issue we have talked much about over the last 4 months as this election year envelopes us. Just last Thursday we took the time to listen to a great seminar from the last month's Shepherd's Conference entitled "Politically Incorrect?" given by Phil Johnson.

Here were four Biblical insights that Johnson compellingly argued should guide our practice in these matters. They resonated with us all . . .

1. Preaching, not lobbying, is how the church makes Truth known. (1 Cor. 1:21-2:5)
   
   
2. Gospel, not law, is what changes sinful hearts. (Gal. 2:21)
   
   
3. Service, not dominion, is the most effective way to win people to Christ. (Mat. 20:40-48)
   
   
4. Christ, not moralism, should be the subject of our preaching. (1 Cor. 2:2)

(Audio is available online at http://www.shepherdsfellowship.org/ and is well worth the small $2 fee. We've also just put a CD copy down in our Grace Library for check out.)

Stay tuned for our upcoming Fall preaching series "The Gospel for Real Life" where I plan to spend a week addressing some of these issues from a Biblical perspective under the heading "The Gospel and Your Civic Duty." We're also discussing the possibility of "An Evening with the Elders" to coincide with this message. We'll see if it all comes together.